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Conceive, believe, achieve. Shut the f up.

You're listening to believe you me with Michael the Count Bisbing-No my name yet?

And Anthony Lionhard Smith.

That's a hell of a haircut.

Busiest man on the MMA community.

Man, I am so sorry for those people that don't know what Gilbert's talking about. You've got the patience of a saying, my brother. So I messaged Gilbert. I said, You're good for the podcast. Can we do Wednesday? Can we do this? Can we do that? I must have changed it on you five times. And then today I'm like- At least. Yeah, then I'm like, Are we good for 2:00 PM? And you're like, Yeah, I am. Are you? I was just telling Brian and Harrington. Shit, man. How you been?

I'm good, bro. Crazy, hard week, training camp. A couple of days are nice. A couple of days of war. Today was another war day, but it was good.

Yeah, you do look a little tired, if I'm honest.

I do. No, I am. I am just recovering now. We're in sport. I had five rounds today. On the beginning, I think next week I'm going to do three and three, but leading up to the fight, we do a lot of volume, so we do more rounds. We want to be ready. I've been doing a lot of five rounds. I'm very happy that next week is going to drop to three rounds, so it should be a little bit easier, but I'm freaking tired today.

Yeah, of course, you got a big fight coming up soon, though. Jack Dela Madeleina. He's a great boxer. He's an awesome guy as well. I've been around Jack a little bit. Nice guy. Really nice guy. What do you make of him?

He's a tough dude. I cornered against him in the Contender Series. When he went to the Contender Series, he fought one of my teammates, Anja Looser. And Anja is tough, bro. Anja is very He's a strong guy. He's born in Congo. He grew up in Switzerland. He went to Switzerland after the war, but he grew up in Congo, bro. All those guys are huge. That was a two-to-to fight. He won by decision. Jack won by decision. Later, Orange got one more win, got to the UFC, but I was there very close to watching. I saw how durable and how tough these guys are. His hands are so sharp. People make a mistake because two fights ago, he fought Bazil Hafez, that guy that was a short notice. He got a fight in a week, notice, something like that when Sean Bradley pulled out. Jacky got taken down a couple of times, but he, the way I see, He was trying to grapple more. He was trying to catch the guy on the guillotines. He put himself out there, trying to improve, trying to get better. People always going to be thinking, I don't think so.

I think the guy is legit. He's strong because I know how strong on Giz and those guys were like, toe to toe, like, Oh, my God, that guy is going to be strong. I respect the guy. 6-0 in the UFC is not for everyone. We know how tough the UFC is. And hungry guy upcoming me. I knew whenever he doesn't have a fight coming up, his stuff, people for sure be saying, No. When my phone rings, I knew I got to solve a problem for Shelby. When they ask for this match, Shelby said, I like this fight. This guy's tough. He deserves a big fight. I'm not going to be the guy that hold to no one's position. If he deserves, let's do it. Let's fight for it. Let's see what you got. I like that fight.

Yeah, well, as you say, six in a row. He's building a good name. He's well respected by all the fires, and you're one of the best well to wait on planet Earth. Last time we saw you was against Bilal Mohamed. Yes. I know you injured your shoulder going for a take. That was at First round, one?

Yeah, first round.

How frustrating was that fight for him?

Extremely frustrating. Taking nothing away from Bilal Mohamed, he went out there, he won the fight. But I was compromised the beat. I have two minutes and a half to three minutes. On the first round, I was compromised, couldn't do nothing in my left. It was super frustrating, especially that was a short notice. I had fight in Brazil against Neil Magenet four months without him in Miami. That was just a couple of weeks after I was fighting again. Three fights in five months was a lot. But physically, mentally, I was freaking ready to be out there and cannot do nothing that you train. I couldn't shoot for a takedown. I couldn't throw nothing. I could throw a couple of right hands, a couple of kicks, but that's it. That's not even half of my game. So I was very frustrated to be there five rounds and not be able to execute, I'm not even half of what I'm capable of.

Yeah, and I understand you probably want to be careful what you say because people always say, Oh, he's making excuses. No, no, no. But that's not an excuse. That's legit. I mean, I've been there.

The guy won't Fair enough. He won't. He went out there. I was a little bit frustrated in the beginning because I want to go on my share to know, I cannot do much. He tried to finish me. He didn't even try it, but he just needed a win. Why he risk? I take it. I'm in peace with that. I think he went out there, he got a win. Your opponent got hurt, and he's what it is, so not much to say about Bilal Muhammad. I got hurt. The guy didn't do nothing wrong, and he deserves a title shot, but it's just freaking frustrating situation. The phone call is, if you get the win, you fight for the title, and then you're going.

Oh, my gosh.

Plus, five months of recovery.

Surgery?

No surgery. Thank God, we have steam cells now the day. I did three shorts of steam cells. It helped me big time. I avoid the surgery by super close. I have fractures on my ligaments on the deltoid and on the AC joint. Ac joint, it doesn't look normal now. It looks a little bit up, but it's normal. I can do anything on my shoulder. It's 100% healed, but yeah, it was frustrating.

Did you feel the benefits from the stem cell? Because I'm talking to a company called BioAccelerator.

I almost went there. I was so close to go there. But then I think I'm not pretty sure, but When I talk to the UFC, I think, You don't need that problem. But someone got a call with you, Zada, something out there, so they don't want to risk me to go out of the country. Ufc found a guy here in Salt Lake City, and they sent this thing to sell for me, so I did it here. But I was that close. We were in talks. I was almost going to Colombia, but last minute, you've seen, he asked me to not you go.

Well, I'm going to go to Columbia. I'm going to go do some stem cells because my back's I know.

To be honest, after the fight, I went to the doctor and doctor took a MRI and he said, Man, it looks bad. I think you're going to need a surgery, but let's try to do a steam cell for a month. I'm going to do the steam cell. I'm going to order. This week, I put the stem cell. We wait for a month. I don't want you to do anything. You just can walk. I don't want you to run. I don't want you to lift it. I don't want you to do anything. Wait one month and we're going to see after that. After one month, I got back, took another MRI. He said, See, it's healing. Really? We don't think you're going to need another surgery. Let's put another stem cell. I put a second stem cell. I got back after a month or so, and I got back slowly with the PT, and They put another stem cell, and the shoulder was finally responding, getting better.

And now Gilbert's back, 100%, ready to rock, ready to take on Australia's finest, Jack Delamata later, UFC 299, Miami.

Let's go. Let's go. Got me fired up now. Let's go.

I'm going down to Columbia. I'm going to get stem cells. I'm coming out of retirement. I'm going to do it. Me and you, main event. I'm joking, of course. I'm excited for you to come back, Gilbert. I love watching you fight. You're one of the coolest guys in all the mixed martial arts. I want to ask you about the fight this weekend, UFC 298 going down. There's a guy fighting on there in your weight class. You used to train with him. He's from Ireland. He's called Ian Gary. He's taking on Jeff Neil. Obviously, this is your weight class. What do you think about that fight?

It's a tough fight, to be honest. I think Jeff Neil, he's super, super hard. He has a good boxing. I just think he's very inconsistent. The results show it because I remember even back in the days, he beat. I think he was the last guy, one of maybe the last one to be Bilal Muhammad, and he destroyed Bilal Muhammad. In the next fight, he was fighting Neil Maggany. The guy that very tough, have a record on the Routhery division, but he's not consistent, too. He got a couple of wins, lows. It's that. Then he lost to Neil Maggany. Then he got a couple of wins, and then he lost, and then he canceled a lot of fights got canceled, and then he doesn't make weight a couple of times. It was not like one time. Last time, he didn't make weight. Last one, he got canceled against Ian. I think he's very unconsistent with his performance. Sometimes he show up like, Oh, my God, that guy can become a champion. Sometimes he shows up like, With that being said, Ian is very consistent. I like the guy a lot. He's crazy. He likes to talk.

When I fought, Hamzaashimaev, he fought on the same card, and that guy don't stop talking. He has a crazy energy that I like, Bro, I like you, but leave me alone for a little bit. I need to focus on my fight. We really had that conversation. He's still my guy. He called me a week ago. We He's still cool. He's still a friend of mine. I think he's very consistent. One thing that he has that Jeff Neil failed a couple of times is the gas tank. After COVID or something like that, He said that in one of his interviews, he's very afraid to get tired. Sometimes he slowed down a lot on the second round. That's when he lost Neil Magny. Even Shaav Khaja, that's when Shabqad started putting a pace on him on his last fight. If you get a little plumber in gas tank, if you're just striking, fighting another striker, Ian Gary has a crazy gas tank. That guy came. He's so fast and he has the volume for days. That's what I'm taking. If I'm taking the consistence from Ian, the speed, the volume, the momentum. If you got Geoffrey New in consistent, lost a couple of times, gas tank a little issue, I got Ian Gary winning that fight.Not.

Easy.interesting..

Geoffrey New can finish that fight with a one shot. That guy hits like a heavyweight. But is he going to hit Ian Gary? That's the question. I don't think so, especially on the beginning. That guy is so fast. Good eyes, good movement. I think Ian Gary is going to get away.

Look at this guy. He's like an ESPN analyst. He's coming for our job, Gilbert. You mentioned a second ago, when you went down and did the stem cells, they said, Don't do anything for four weeks. When I had that back in the day, they tell you to rest. As fighters, it's the hardest goddamn thing to do, to do nothing. When I did my eye, they said, Do nothing. I couldn't train. I couldn't even get my heart rate up. It was about three months. I just sat on the couch drinking lots of beer, watching Sopranos. I got fat as fuck, and then I said, Screw it, and I went for a walk, and my retina redetached. Did you struggle sitting around for a month?

I did, I did bad, especially coming from a loss. He hurt me, to be honest, because we are fighters, we're competitors, and we're going to make a mistake. I wish we were winning every time, but we're not. We're going to lose, we're going to deal with that. But the best way for me to deal with a loss is to go back to work as quick as possible, watch the fight multiple times, and start working on my mistakes and get better, and drilling, and drilling, and drilling, and do it again, get better. Then when he said nothing, I said nothing, he said, No, nothing. I said, Oh, my God.

Tell him, My God.

Then I went to the gym and said, You know what? I'm going to go to the gym. I'm going to help a couple of guys. Work around it. Oh, my. That was the worst. I went to the gym, then I saw a couple of guys doing a great job. Don't get me wrong, a couple of guys were working, they butted off, they're trying to get ready to a fight. But a couple of guys were lazy and not working. Then I was looking, then it makes me feel even worse. Man, I went to the gym for three, four days, and they said, I'm not going to this. He's making me even more anxious. It's getting worse. Then I got to make a routine. I got to do something. Otherwise, I'm going to get crazy. I'm already a little bit depressed. I don't want to get to a high level depression. I don't want nothing to happen. I said, I had that conversation with my wife, I got to do something. They just said, What about you help me with the kids? Help me with the things at home.

Why don't you try being a father? Why don't you make the bed, back to the house.

They were exactly like that. They said, You know what? I'm going to give it a try. I'm going to give it a try. That was it. That helped me out a lot. I started waking up early, helping the kids to get up to school. It was even taking a lot of pressure away from her. Then I was biking with the kids. The school is three blocks away from the house, so we were biking to school and then come back. Then I was Helping out with the home, doing things that I hate to do it, but I had good time. I started doing and go pick up the kid, stay with the family more. Then they had a vacation. They had a summer, so we went to Brazil, went to different places, and then I started going to the fight, and then I slowly got back to do PT. That was the thing. I had to make a new routine. That transition when I wasn't doing anything, I was so bad. But after two weeks of me I'm just saying making a new routine, that helped big time.

Gilbert Burns, the housewife, what is the worst thing, the worst job that you hate the most in a house? Being a father, how old are your children?

90, 10.

All right, so you're not changing diapers. There's none of that. No, they're cool. Does Gilbert Burns cook?

I can cook, bro. I can cook good. I cook a couple of times. Regular, every day, I do the breakfast. I'm the guy that I wake up on a morning guy, so my wife is still sometimes a little slow picking up the pace. I wake up the kids, help them to change the shower. Then I go down, I start making the food, making everything. It was actually fun. I was helping out, be more with the family, with the wife, with the kids, be more. That was actually nice. I need that a little bit. I cannot fight, I cannot train, so I need to get exit from that a little bit and get the other part of Gilbert burn is working. So it was nice.

Yeah, that's nice quality time that when you're training for a fight, you don't really get to do that. But let me ask you, American breakfast or a Brazilian breakfast? And what is a Brazilian breakfast? Oh, American.

Yeah, a Brazilian breakfast is like pound de quiche. When they do the cheese bread, it's a nice cheese bread. And we do a lot of... It's not much. We do like a freaking bread, with butter. It's super simple. Coffee, little things. But I do American. I do eggs, I do bacon, I do pancakes, I do everything. Kids love When they do, so I do a lot. They actually like my breakfast burrito that I make this. I make a tortilla, I put avocado, I got eggs, I got bacon, I got cheese on top the egg. I make a nice breakfast burrito for the kids. They love it.

That sounds amazing. I'm actually starving. This morning, we had the fire to meetings for the fight this weekend, right? Because they're in Anaheim, close to where I live. I drive down the hotel and I'm starving. And we had the fire meetings, and it's Thursday, so the fire is a cutting way. I run out and I'm looking for a snack, and I get a breakfast burrito. It wasn't the best, but because I was so hungry, it tasted like the best thing ever. And the fires are coming in, and I'm eating this huge burrito. Let me ask you, you're cutting away, you walk in to do the fire meeting, and some fat British bastard is sitting there, stuffing his face with a burrito. What are you saying? Hey, bro, have a bit of respect for the process or do you not care?

I was with no respect anymore, right? Now, I don't need to go away. Now, we have your fun, right?

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There's football or basketball season. What more do you want? You want the website one more time, pricepicks. Com/believe. Use the call believe for a deposit match of up to $100. Let me ask you about this as well, because this is crazy. This weekend, Elia Toporia, Balkansky. Great fight. Yesterday, I was speaking to Toporia. He says, because I heard this, so I asked him about it. I did an interview. When he's cutting away on the Thursday night, he drinks half a liter of wine. And he said, Most rooms, everyone's the sad, the angry, the hungry, the mood is very... You know how it is when you're cutting away. It sucks, right? He said, In his room, everyone's getting drunk. They're playing music, they're singing, they're dancing. Half a liter of wine, that's a lot of glasses of wine. And then he wakes up the next morning and he's way lighter. I was like, That just sounds That shit crazy.

But he's doing it for real?

100%. That's what he does. He drinks half a liter of wine.

I'll be so drunk, I can't go over the other day. I can't drink it. I won't drink. I don't drink. When I used to drink, I used to be so weak. I get one beer or one something that was crazy, upside down, going crazy, talking crazy. That's why I stopped because I said, Bro, if I drink one cup, if I drink one little B, and then I get it makes me go crazy. I don't think it's good for me. I slow down and I stop it. I don't drink. If I drink a little bit of that, I'm going to be so hangover the other day. That's what I'm fighting. No.

That's what I said. I said, Did you not I have a crazy headache? And then I'm like, I've been doing it wrong this whole time. When I was training for a fight, I never drink. I'm like, I'm not going to drink. I should have been getting drunk this whole time. I would have been champion of the goddamn world. When's the last time you had a drink, Gilbert?

I think three years ago, maybe.

Four? Yeah. Well, good for you. Well done. You're still down at Kill Cliff?

Yes, we're here at Kill Cliff. We're doing a good work. By the way, that fight is going to be insane. Topuri and Volkanovske. Who are you going to win in this fight?

Well, I'm commentating, so I can't say.

You can't say?

Well, because it's disrespectful, right? It's not very professional for me to say, I think this guy is going to win. But you can. You can say who wins.

I like both guys, to be honest. Topuya came, he did a camp here. He's a monster. That guy, he's a great grappler, great striking, great wrestling shoe, good takedown defense, good takedown offensive. He hits like, he knocked a couple of guys down bad. He hits that, he's that good. He's very, very good. Nice guy, too, though. I like Vukunovski a lot, too. A monster, you don't have enough. I just don't like what he was saying. I don't like the motivation to the fight. I think every fight, you have a little motivation. You want to become a champion. I like the motivation for Tupouya better now. He wants to become a champion. He believes he's going to be the champion. I just saw a little feature of Volkanovski. I got a fight and short notice because I have to fight. Meaning I had a little mental wish to shoot when I don't have a day, when I don't have a fight. Then he got a fight and short notice. Then he got knocked out. I think, my opinion, I'm not judging, it's just my opinion. It's not a fact, too. He got a fight in short notice, right?

End up losing. You got to fight in short notice. I got to fight in short notice. You become a champion in freaking short notice. But you know even better, sometimes it's a good decision. Sometimes your body feels good. Sometimes you don't regret. Like, man, that was a good thing. But sometimes it's not. It's not every time that you get fired on short notice that means things are going your way. I just think he made a mistake because he just lost the guy in a short notice. Highway cut. He said he was drinking the whole week. So obviously, it wasn't a good decision. So now, if I just made a mistake, if I made a bad decision, now I got to make a good decision, right? So now I got to try to me, I tried to fix what I did wrong, and he's still trying to know, but now I got to write that wrong. I need to fight again. I need another day, bro. You're still doing the same mistake. Relax. And freaking concussion I don't recall. How long is that? It's different to everybody. But that was a freaking high kick in the weight division guy.

How long ago was that?

It was October, wasn't it? November, December, Janet, four months. That's not bad.

I know, but he sport a lot for this fight. That's what I meant. It's not that he was four months without getting hit. You know what I mean? He's been getting hit at least two months. He's at least sporting for this fight. I just don't like that. Why you hurry, bro? You're the champion. Relax. You try a thing, it didn't work. No problem. Take a little time, clean up the room, clean up the house, you relax, take your time, go back.

Get the brush out, get them up. Relax.

Take the kids to school. But don't hurry. With that being said, because he's hurrying, he's pushing, he tried to prove something, I don't like that motivation. I got to put your winnie in. Not for personal because I do like He's a lot of guys, a lot. But that motivation from Topur here, I don't know. I think it's a little bit better.

If I'm hearing you rightly, Gilbert, I think what you're saying is, and I know you're a very respectful guy, but you think that maybe I hope this doesn't come across wrong. Maybe a little bit of a mental weakness because he's so bothered about the loss. He wants to get back in there real quick and erase that. But potentially, that's a big risk, and it could end up going wrong.

I would not say mental weakness, but I would say it's a little bit his ego trying to... I do think that ego got to be in control. Even that freaking ego that we do have, that we want to compete, that we want to... Sometimes it's got to be on check. Sometimes we got to... Especially, he's a freaking champion of the world. Like, amongst it, have nothing to prove. You lost to Islam. Okay, was a couple of weeks. No, there's no problem. My guy, take your time. Relax, get better. Oh, I have a problem. If I don't have a day, work on that problem, solve that problem, fix that problem. They come back, relax. The world is not going to finish. I mean, we don't know, but the work is not supposed I'm not finishing in three months and four months, relax. So I don't like that. I still like the guy a lot, and I hope he does a good job. I don't bet you, but if I was betting, I'll put money into I think that motivation to become a champion, the guy's coming like...

So Saturday night, Spain/Georgia has the first ever champion of the world. That's what you're saying?

I think so, yeah.

Man, don't say that. I love both. Do you know what? I love them both. I was talking to a supporter yesterday as well, and he really won me over. They're just such a nice guy because the things you see online makes you think that he's really arrogant. But I spoke to him and this guy was so respectful and he was confident, of course, because as far as we got to be confident, but he was a great guy. And Bokunovsky, the exact same thing.

It's going to be a phenomenal- They're both nice guys. And another thing, too, another thing. We lost by KO to KO, right? We hate that, but it happens. How did you come back in on the next fight, Bispi?

How did I come back?

Yeah, on the next fight, maybe a little...

Yeah, I know what you're saying. When I got knocked out against Dan Henderson, when I came back, I was like, You're a little worried. I hope that doesn't go away.

I hope that stays here.

Yeah, but you don't know. And it's a good point what you bring up. These are real questions. Number one, there's everyone saying, Because he's 35 now and there's this statistic that over 35, it's hard to win the fight, and he's a lightweight. Then when you get the knockout, at some point, I know he wasn't asleep, asleep, but still, he did get kicked in the head. I understand what you're saying, but you never know. I guess there's only one way to sell this.

Yeah, we're going to watch it. To get in the article. Yes, sir. They fight. I just don't like those questions. We shouldn't be answering those questions. If he relax a little bit, take his time, those answers will be... Those questions will be all answered. But freaking guy, he's a monster, you got to respect that. He don't care. He's going to come to the fight. So it should be a great fight.

Yeah, Volkanoff, he's one of the coolest guys as well. He really is. He's like, there's no ego to him at all. Same with you, Gilbert. I message some people. I say, Can you get on the podcast? Volk, you always say yes, even I know I changed the time 15 times. Volkanoff is like, straight away. Other people are like, You got to go through my manager. And I'm like, Kiss my ass, man. Go through your manager?

No respect to the fighters, right? We're fighters. It's Come on.

Yeah, I was like, Come on, dude. I'll jump on your podcast. Outside of the training and the fight coming up soon, what else you've been doing? I know you've been looking after the kids. You've been making the American breakfast. Anything new in the world of Gilbert Birds?

Not much, to be honest. Now, a lot of focus on the fight. A lot of focus on the fight right now. I'm zoning out, taking everything away, and then zoning in the fight. And then a couple of weeks, you got two and a half more weeks of training, then we're in a fight week. So right now, not much. Just focus on the fight, recovery, for sure, stay with the family, spend a lot of time with the family, but focus on the fight right now.

Real quick, what do you think about Kevin Holland and Michael Vennen-Page? Obviously, Page is making his UFC debut. Kevin Holland, we all know and love this guy. How do you think that fight goes?

Good fight, good match up. He's going to be interesting, too. Especially, they're probably not going to grapple. It's going to be an interesting stand-up fight with freaking too awkward guy with crazy style. I don't know. I don't know who is. I don't know. I think if MVP wins, he's going to shake up the division a little bit. But even if Kevin Wings. Who's he? I don't know. I like this fight. I'm not even putting so much attention, but it's going to be a good fight. I like this fight.

Okay, and then let's bring it back to you. You fought for the belt. You had a really great fight against Kamara Guzman. You are still one of the top welterwears in the world. It was a shame what happened last time, but it is what it is. Does the drive to be the champion, it's still there, it's still the same, it's still the goal, right?

100%. When I'm not I don't think… I still believe it's going to happen. I still have a lot of fire. That's where it get me training. That's where it literally will get me going. I think if I cannot make or it's get one loss and then it got another loss, I'm done because I'm not… I can do a lot of things. I can become Michael Beasby and go do a little commentary, make a podcast, get a couple of sponsors, get a couple of seminars. I can make money without fighting. I just like to fight and I want to become the best. But I don't think I'm going to be fighting just for paycheck, like a lot of guys do. Or you want to be a champion? No, I just want to make money. That's my health and risk. If it's not to become a champion, no way I'm going to do. I'm going to teach, I'm going to podcast, I'm going to do all the things. But right now, I want to become a champion. I'm all in to become a champion. I think I'm super close, number 4 now in the awards. Bidding Jack Madalena, just bidding, just winning, I don't think you're going to do so much, but if I go out there and I make a statement, really finish this guy, show him levels, this division, that him and everyone know that I've been fighting the best guys in the world for years, not for one year, but for four or five years in the top of this division, fighting who is who in this division.

If I go there and really do what I want to do with this guy, I think I'm going to be very close to get another title shot.

Yeah, well, I hope it goes your way. We made the best man win because I like Jack as well. But just last thing because I was going to say goodbye, but you just said there, if If you didn't go your way, you'd probably retire. I was talking to Henry Sahudo, and he said the same thing. He said, If I lose to Marab on Saturday night, he said, That's it, I'm done. He said, I'm not here just to make a living. I want to be the champion. And if I can't win and I can't be the champion. I'm done. And I respected that so much because you're right, there is a lot of people, you make good money, you get attention, you get sponsors, you get the cheers and the fans and the rest of it. But he is only, and you, of course, only interested in becoming the champion. For sure.

I think he's a lot of room to make money outside of that. I'm not going to say retired I'm never going to put that word on my mouth until I say it. I'm not even putting there like, but I'm here for the win. I'm not going to do everything in my power to get this win, but I don't want to be that guy that... We know that that guy never going to become a champion. He don't even want it, but he just want to be around. I don't want to be this guy. I'm here to become a champion. I do good fights, interesting I'm going to be entertaining everyone that is there, watching the fights, the people, guys that are at home watching the fights. I want them to be entertained. I want them to feel my energy when I'm fighting. I'm going out there to destroy this guy, to put on a show and to become a champion. That's the goal.

Well, you always put a show on, Gilbert. Whether or not you've got a torn shoulder or not, we love watching you. Gilbert, thanks for your time today, brother. Really, really appreciate it. I know you're tired. You're like this fucking asshole. Let me get off this call. I'm tired. Are you going to take a nap right now? You look like you're going to go to sleep.

I'm going to the hyperbaric chamber, so probably a little nap in there.

Okay, well, enjoy the nap, buddy. Thanks for your time.Thank you, my guy.Thank you. All right, Gilbert. Big thanks to Gilbert Burns. He did look exhausted, didn't he, Harrington?

Yeah, He was powering through for sure.

Yeah, I know. Bless him. He's probably like, Can we just wrap this up? This has been half an hour. You said 10 minutes on Instagram. Harrington, you look like you've had a tub of paint thrown all over you.

Yeah, dude, that's what fashion is nowadays, man.

You are correct. Anytime I wear something remotely stylish, I get people in the comment section saying, Oh, look at Bisping, dressing like Brandon Shabb or whatever. You know what I mean? It's like, Dude, leave me alone. I had a Purple T-shirt on a couple of episodes ago, and everyone's like, What is he wearing? It's like, Shut up, you miserable pricks. Normally, I wear a plain black T-shirt. These are $24.99 from Bilt, B-Y-L-T. It's pretty much what I live in. All right, this episode is sponsored by Shopify, and if you are an entrepreneur, if you have a business idea, if you want to make some money, you got to be online. Now, getting online, building a website sounds complicated, time consuming, and very, very expensive. Well, not with Shopify. Shopify Shopify makes it ridiculously easy and ridiculously cheap. Right now, they will build you a website, essentially. They will allow you to accept every single major payment method. They will give you 24/7 customer help. They will provide an extensive business cost library, and they will support you every step of the way for $1 per month for a limited time, of course. You can sign up for $1 per month when you go to Shopify.

Com/believe-all-ower-case. If you have an idea, if you want to get online, if you have a business, it's time to do it. It's time to take the plunge. And there's never been a better time because $1 per month, I'll say it again, $1 a month. That's ridiculously cheap. It is packed with all the industry tools that you need to ignite your growth. Shopify gives you complete control over your business and your brand without learning any new skills in design or code. It lets you sell across all the different marketplaces like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, so on and so forth. So take the plunge today. Go to Shopify. Com/believe, all lowercase, $1 per month for a trial period, Shopify. Com/believe. Your thoughts on this main event, Harrington? Because Volkanovski, I understand what Gilbert was saying. I do. But I also understand the mindset of Volkanovski, right? Because I think for a month, he's fine. I really do. I don't think he's rushing back too soon. He is probably getting up. Well, he is getting older. I don't know what he gets paid. He gets paid a lot of money. He wants to be back in fight camp. He wants to eradicate that memory or loss of memory, whichever way you want to put it, of losing to Islam Makhachev because you're only as good as your last fight.

He wants to remind the world. And probably a little bit himself, prove that he still got it and he's still the man. Problem is, Elia Sephora, he was walking around yesterday, the hotel with the belt on. There was a little interaction with Balkan Tepooria. They're very gentlemanly like. There's been no shit talk. Toporia has been very, very respectful, although he is firmly, firmly of the belief that he goes out there and smokes him. And when you talk to him, it's not just hype. You know what I mean? He does truly believe that. And there is people like Gilbert that have trained with him that are of the same opinion. But you got to remember this is Volkanovski. And when you look at their resumes on paper, Volk's probably, well, he has fought the better people. What is your opinion and what is your pick?

I mean, it's so tough because I've been on Volkanovski since this fight was announced. It's so difficult to pick against this guy. But Gilbert made a great point. You're saying four months is enough time, and I agree in general. But I mean, it's just you're 35 years old, right? You just got clean KOed by a lightweight. Now you're adding- Did he go to sleep?

Or Was it a T KO?

He was still awake.

Yeah, but he was slumped over. I don't know.

He was having a bad day.

Yeah, it was a rough visual for sure. It's the worst I think anyone has ever seen, Volkanoffski look in a cage. To have this fight now four months later and add a weight cut in, cutting back down at 145. There is just something about a guy being that confident, that sure of himself, that whole, this is my destiny, my story. One of these guys is going in there with way more doubts in his mind. You just can't tell me that Iliate Tabori is not the more confident guy heading into this fight. And nine times out of 10, that's who I'm going to side with.

Regarding the four months thing, and the reason And the reason I say that it's fine is because I've done that and I was fine. And it was after that Henderson one. But of course, I'm no doctor. I'm no concussion expert. You know what I mean? I don't know the ins and outs of that side of things. I'm just speaking about my own personal experience. But Vogue did say that it did a 14-week camp. So 14 weeks from now, that brings us into probably start of December, one would think, something roughly like that. And he said, The reason he did that, and he said, It's smart. I'm not going to count the weeks back because I couldn't do. But he said, The reason I did that, and I wish I did stuff like this, because when you do a camp, the final week, you're over it. You're sick of it. You're just mentally, you're physically tired and beat up. But mentally, you're just over it. That's why at the end of every training camp, and you do your last spa, you're just like, Thank God, thank God this process is over. Now it's fight week. Now it's the fun part.

The hard work is done. He said, I trained about four or five weeks Weeks, first of all. And then I took a couple of weeks off at Christmas. A, so he could indulge. He could have a good Christmas with his family. And then he picked up training after Christmas. But he said, also because then you get a mental and a physical break, and then you hungry to get back into the training camp. So I really liked that approach, and I think that's really smart, and I'd like to do that. If I could do it again, I'd definitely try and implement that. But yeah, you didn't give a pick. Who wins?

I'm going to say Ilya Teporea.

Brian, what say you?

I'm a Vulk fan boy till the end, man. I think he's going to take it.

The reality is it's a fantastic fight, and we can sit here and we've done it. Me and Anthony have broken down several times. They're both very, very good at what they do. And I guess we're going to find out on Saturday, and we may have a new champion of the world. I'll tell you what, Elia Seporia, not only does he drink loads of wine, which blew my mind. I was like, I like this guy. He rolls deep. He walked in and he's got a team of about 25 people with him. I said, Jesus Christ, man, you're rolling like a world champion already. He said, Oh, this is nothing. This is even all of the team that's with me. He has got a real posse around him. He's rolling deep down at the fighter hotel. Bigger than Nate Dias.

Say again? Bigger than Nate Dias' posse?

I don't know about that. Probably more respectable. They're not throwing water bottles and starting fights left, right, and center. Co-main event, Robert Whittaker, Paolo Costa. I spoke to Costa for the first time yesterday. I've said hi, of course, exchange pleasantries over the years. I've seen him around, said hi, whatever. But I had a proper conversation on my YouTube channel. What a What a lovely guy. What a lovely guy he was. Number one, he's absolutely ripped. He always is. And I was speaking to his coach. I think his name was Gilbert, his new strength and conditioning coach, but his mind coach. And they were talking about how Paolo has now finally got his mind right. And now he's this new animal. He's an absolute monster. He's a beast, and he's going to be the best performance ever. Of course, Robert Witzke last time against Drikus DiPlece. He didn't go his way. We know what happened. He got dropped essentially by a jab and finished off. Robert asked us not to share this, so I can't, but he said he wasn't himself going into that fight. And he also talked about how complacent isn't the correct word.

But because he's been a part of the UFC for so long and had so many big fights, and I know exactly what he means here, let me put it like this. When I first started fighting, it was just a blaze and a whirlwind of aggression. Then you learn to handle those emotions and you learn the sport. You get better technically. And then after a while, you're over-technifying, for want of a better word, you're over-complicating it and you're making it all technical and this and that. And you He's going to lose the animalistic side of it a little bit. You look at it as a sport as opposed to, Hold on a minute. At the end of the day, we're in a good old fashioned fight. Dick to dick, nipple to nipple. Do you know what I mean? And And I asked him to clarify his remarks, and he agreed that that's what it was. He got away from that side of things. So he said in all of his training camps, it has been war. Every sparring session, he said he's been nasty as And that's what he's going to bring to Paolo Acosta. He said, He's taking it to him.

He said, Yeah, he's big, he's strong, he's formidable, he hits hard. But if I put him on his back for it, if I take it to him and I just throw down and fight, that's the way to beat him. So Robert Whittaker is coming in here Saturday night with a point to prove, and he's going to be coming balls in all the way.

That is super exciting because we're talking maybe five years since we've had a motivated Robert Whittaker. The last time I can remember is that image of him alone in the arena before he fights Israel out of Sonia. From that point to this, he's had nothing to prove. Any of the top guys who he's fought outside of Drikus Dupleci, he's beaten with ease. If If they want a big challenger to come up at a certain point for Israel Adesanya, they would navigate that guy away from Robert Whitaker. This is the no doubt or number one contender in the division. Now he's been knocked off that perch. Drikus is sitting there Tron Strickland sitting there. He has to prove something again. And that gets me super excited. It's like that a motivated Robert Whitaker.

But that's exactly what I said to him when I was interviewing him yesterday. I think, I don't know either, because it was the last interview of the day for me and for him. It was like almost five o'clock in the afternoon. It's the day before the wake up. You're doing all your media and stuff like that, and you're tired, you're exhausted, and you're sick of it. And pretty early into the interview, I essentially said what you said. I said, For the longest time, it was you and Izzy. And I said, I did say, Clearly, you were the next best guy because the reality was Izzy was the champ for a long time. I said, But now the landscape has changed. Now you got Drix DePreci, you got Sean Strickland, And you got Hamza Chimev, you got Bo Nikkel coming up. There's a lot of new blood and a lot of new faces. And I don't know if he was just tired or that just pissed him off because the answers started getting really short. They were essentially yes or no answers. And I'm like, I love Robert Wittege. He's one of the best human beings ever.

And I was like, I was hating myself inside. I'm like, Shit, I could have worded that maybe a little bit better. But either way, I think it's a tremendous fight. I enjoy Paolo Costa, man. He's absolutely hilarious. He really is.

How could you know? The guy just brings entertainment, right? Think about when he fought Izzy for the belt and he was handing him out a white belt and talking about the nail- Yeah, but I wanted to bring that up as the entertainment because he didn't really fight, and he ended up getting bloody finished easily and then dry hunked.

Yeah, I know. That's not a selling point.

I'm saying he's managed to maintain his spot towards the top of the division despite some less than stellar results because he is one of the most entertaining 185ers on the planet, and there's no denying that.

And Costa is only 32 years old. You know what I mean? Because he's been around for a long time now at the highest level. Think about that war that he had with Yola Romero. That was 2017. Or 18, 17 or '18, '17 or '18, '18, maybe. God knows whenever it was. Seven, eight years ago, and he's still only 32 years old. Who have you got winning in that one?

I mean, if you're telling me this is a motivated Robert Whitaker versus a Paulo Costa that's been on his couch since he fought Luke Rockhold three years ago, I have to take Robert Whitaker in that fight. And I think this is a big yardstick, right? Because it's like, if Robert Whitaker doesn't win this one, then you know the writing is on the wall. So I'm not ready to let go of Robert Whitaker being Championship caliber just yet.

Yeah, well, I did an interview, a YouTube video, basically, UFC 298, what's at stake or massive pressure on these four, because that was essentially it, what you just said there For Volkanovski, if he loses this fight, not only does he lose the title, but he's lost two in a row, he's 35, and then people start to form an opinion that is the end of the career. The end is now, the tide has changed. For Robert Whittaker, precisely the same thing. A former champion, tremendous fighter, lost to Dreykers, can't beat Costa, new people coming up. Maybe the title aspirations could be a thing of the past. Ian Gary versus... Who's he fining? My mind's gone blank.

Jeff Neil.

Ian Gary, Jeff Neil. Gary's got a lot of pressure on his shoulders because he's talking... He's saying what he's saying. He's very confident. He's rubbed a lot of people the wrong way. Sean Strickland has also joined in the rubbing of that to ensure the rub gets rubbed off. So I think he's going to get booed out of the building Saturday night just because he's become this pantomime villain to a certain degree. Maybe he welcomes it. Maybe he's partly to blame. Maybe he's not. Who knows? He does show up and he does fight. But the pressure to get the win on Saturday night is big because if you lose this to Jeff Neil, the tidal wave of the shit storm that's going to come his way. He's going to be of epic proportions.

Yeah, I mean, that was definitely... Conor McGregor was able to navigate the whole being cocky without getting everybody to hate him until he started throwing dollies through bus windows and things of that nature. He had already won the title. Ian Gary is already starting to rub these people the wrong way, talking about he's too big to bring a show back to Ireland. I didn't see that.

Did he say that?

He said that at the Media Day today. He said, I've been trying to bring it back to Ireland. Who knows after I put Jeff Neil, after I bury Jeff Neil in the octagon, I might be too big to bring a show back to Ireland.

That's what Patty said, though, about the O2 Arena. Patty He said, After this, I'll be too big for the O2 Arena. Granted, he hasn't come back yet, but the O2 Arena is one of the biggest venues in all of Europe. And it's probably bigger than... It's up there with Madison Square Garden. Do you know what I mean? It's a big arena. I know he's speaking. Hi, Hypothetically, not hypothetically. Proverbially?

Hyperbily?

He's speaking a lot of shit. He's very speaking. I forget the word right now. Jeff Neil's a bad man, though. Jeff, I've been watching his fight, doing my research, of course. Jeff Neil's got some proper power, man. Proper power. What's your pick on that one? And Brian, I'd like your opinion as well, please.

I don't know. There's something in my brain where the bat signal is going off. He was booked against Vincente Luque. He's the one who got sick, and all of a sudden, they didn't want that Vincente Luque matchup anymore. Jeff Neil, your number's up. There's something in my brain that's saying, Ian Gary is supposed to win this one, and I think his style is suited to beat Jeff Neil.

Just real quick, did you see what Jeff Neil did to Vincente Luque?

No, was that?

He peed the shit out of it.

Jeff Neil won that fight.

Jeff Neil won that fight in stunning fashion. I mean, it was a hell of a beat down. It really was. Brian, how do you see it? What's your pick?

I hope Ian Gary gets the shit kicked out of him. That's just how I feel about I'm just spite betting against him at this point.

You're not pulling any punches on that, are you? No. Hey, listen, you have no allegiances to anybody. You can say whatever you want. And as a fan of the sport, then you're allowed your opinion.

I appreciate it. It's just the way he carries himself. He's great. Technically, everything we've seen out of him, he's been pretty impressive. I just hope he loses.

Oh, God.

I looked at him- I'm not in this podcast.

I'm not in this podcast.

These are my opinions and my opinions alone.

I'm going to eat shit for that one. I don't care.

I'm sorry. I looked that up. You are correct. Jeff Neil did brutalize Vincent DeLuca. He's the one who sent Luke in to the hospital, and that kept him out of action for a year. So, yeah, good point. This is arguably a way more dangerous fight. So, yeah, good luck, Jeff Neil. Let's get it done, baby.

It's a tougher match. He was supposed to fight Luke, right? Gets pneumonia, gets pneumonia. Now he comes back with Jeff Neil. That's a tough fight. I mean, all right, granted, MMA math doesn't always stack up, we know. But Jeff Neil. Jeff Neil is fired up for this one as well. He really is because let's remember, Gary was walking around with a mugshot T-shirt.

He's still selling it.

It's wild.

Is he really? Yeah.

As far as the last I checked, he was still on his website. I'll check right now.

Yeah. I take him one of the lowest moments and then turning it into a T-shirt. If I was Jeff Neil, and I'm not suggesting this for one second, I'd be sending I'm a lawyer. I'll be getting them to send a decent cease and desist letter or give me some of the profits, you prick. That's my face. Let's talk about this Henry Sohoudo situation, my Rabda Valesvili. Two great fighters. As I said before, Sehudo said, And if I don't win this, I'm going to retire. That's obviously putting a lot of pressure on himself. But also that's just who he is. That's the ferocious competitor that he is. And he said something before today at the fight of meetings that I really liked. And you could call it a line from a move UV, or you could call it Hype or whatever. He said, I'm not here to be a fire. I'm a conqueror. I've come to conquer these weight classes. I've conquered 125, I've conquered 135. I'm going to conquer 35 again, and then I'm going to conquer 45. And he said, If I can't beat Marab, then obviously I ain't conquering shit, and I'm going to retire.

I'm like, Listen, call it overconfident, call it whatever you will. But as a fan, as a guy sitting there calling the fight, I'm I said, Oh, shit. You got some good sound bites. Sound bites that didn't go down quite so well, though, was this whole thing with his coach, head coach Eric Albarracin. I have been in the middle of this all week because Bokunovski said you're a piece of shit for doing it. Then it looks like the whole thing was a stunt. It was just a joke. Because on the embed each other, more pally and pally and all the rest of it, and he's back in the corner. So I woke up, I said to Coach Eric, I'm like, You're bastids. I said, You guys got me. He said, What do you mean? No, that was real. I said, What do you mean it was real? He said, Yeah. He said, No, that footage that was on the countdown show was filmed ages ago. He said, Yeah, I'm going to be in the corner because we're buddies. He said, I haven't been a part of his camp. I've been in Brazil trading Paulo Costa and another couple of guys.

He said, So yeah, no, that was true. That was real. Volkanovski says, That makes Henry a piece of shit. What say you guys?

Well, look, dude, again, I thought this was him trying to put him over, but I don't know, dude. Eric did say, to be fair, he did say, I knew something was coming when he pulled me aside and we were on camera. And it's like, I invented the king of cringe character with Henry. You have to expect this coming. So it's like, I don't know, dude, you made money with the guy for two decades. You got to do the favors and get fired on camera at the end of it.

Yeah. Well, Brian, jump on and let's have a three-way discussion, if you don't mind. This is what I liked because I've spoken to them both quite a lot, and they're both cool with it. Eric's fine with it, they're buddies. He said, And you'll know where I'm going with this now. He said, Listen, we've been friends for a very long time. Sometimes we fall out. You know what I mean? He said, We're family brothers. We're brothers, and sometimes we tell each other to go for a walk by themselves. Sometimes we really fall out. He said, Yeah, maybe a few days later, it's all forgotten about. And I was like, Well, yeah, but that's how you know that you're really friends, because it's only with true Real friends. Because if you can't truly be yourself, sometimes you're going to put a false nicety on it. Do you understand what I'm saying? Like your brothers at home, siblings, you love them, but sometimes you do want to strangle them. But like real friends, you do fall out. But it still means you care for them. It still means if they need anything, you'll still help them. And over a few days or a few weeks or even a few months, you forget about it and you're always there to depend on one another.

And I thought that was a really good point, and I totally get it.

Yeah, they did say they butt heads from time to time, but he was like, Look, I was down in Brazil with these guys who are actually brothers, and I watched them. They hadn't seen each other for a month. The first day there, they're at each other's things because that's how brothers are. And he's like, If that's not what that guy needed for this camp, you can't fault him. He said that they trained Davis and Figareto together to a world title. He's like, let him coach himself. See how it works.

Let Brian speak.

Sorry.

No, you're good, man. I just I don't have too much to think about this situation. I just think that it's a real piece of shit move that, number one, that they faked that it was a very recent firing, and that, two, that he did it on camera. I don't know if they set that bit up ahead of time or if they set it up ahead of time, he's like, Hey, buddy, we're going to fire you on camera. No, well, that's what it's up, man. You know what I mean? If you fired me on air, if you brought me on air on a show to me one day. Dude, I would be so pissed. You know what I mean? It's just a bad look for everybody, I think.

Well, listen, guys, I hate to say this to you. I did actually call you here for a reason today. And with the way the show has been going lately and with the inconsistencies and whatnot, guys, this is the last ever show. I'm starting up with Helmani. I get what you're saying. I get what you're saying. And All right, so that's a nice little preview. Who wins that fight, Marab? Listen, Marab is a monster, man. He never stops coming forward. The cardio is absolutely insane. The pressure, the wrestling, the boxing is decent as well. I think Henry Sahudo, when he fought Aljimay and Sterling, I think he put too much stock in the wrestling. I think he thought he was going to out-wrestle him relatively easily. That didn't go to plan. He wasted his gas tank. Henry all week has been talking about he had a terrible wake up because he came back after three years. He got the wake-up process wrong. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. Only he knows that I've got to take him at face value. I don't think he's making excuses, but he wouldn't have got as tired if he wasn't trying to wrestle.

So who does got heavy hands. Knocked out Cruz, knocked out Dillash. I think he made a critical mistake there. That's just a nice way of setting this up. Who the hell do you think wins this fight?

Well, good luck knocking Marab out, I think. He's Russian bear fighter. So that's going to be tough. I honestly think this is just one more name on Marab's resume to a title fight.

I don't know, dude. This feels like it could be. This has a chance on Saturday to be the biggest night in Georgian MMA history. You got Ilya going for the title. You got Marab clearly stepping into that undisputed number one contender position with a win. Marab has not been knocked out before. He was submitted after the Bell by Ricky Simone. But I don't know, dude. It's tough for me when Henry Cejudo's best weapon is his wrestling, and all Marab wants to do is be in the clinch with you, working those wrestling positions and Becoming the lower man, being the grittier guy with the better gas tank. He's the younger man. Everything about this has me leaning Marab.

And when I spoke to Marab as well, he's got a chip on his shoulder. The thing is, when you look at Marab, he hasn't fought very frequently. I think one time in 2023, 2022, once, 2021, once, 2020, once. Do you know what I'm saying? So the strength of schedule has been terrible. But he did say, he said, Listen, he's annoyed. I can't do a Marab accent. But when I beat Aldo, he had to beat Maren Verde at time, and I didn't get fight. When Amali beat Pyotoyan, he got title fight. When I beat Pyotoyan, I don't get this. He said, If I don't get this fight this weekend, then this is shit. Yeah, he's pissed off. If he doesn't get that, I thought that was pretty good, actually. That wasn't bad for Maran. You know that, yeah.

I was like, What are you talking about? You know what I'm talking about?

I did an interview with him and I thought he was with me because I asked him about something and I used the word valued. And he kept trying to say valued. What is the word? And I'm like, Valued? Yes. And he kept stopping and then he kept trying to say it and then go, Oh. And Marab is a funny little bastard.

He's inadvertently funny.

Yeah, but I thought he was doing a bit. You know what I'm saying? I thought, All right, stop it now. He's like, what do you mean stuff, dude. Anyway, so well, it's a tough one for both men. And there it is. There's a nice little preview of the big fights on UFC 298. Herringbone, non-MMA time. All right, we'll start with Vladimir Putin. What's he saying these days? Because I know Brian's going to have some input on this one.

So the comments on this are probably going to echo what Brian's going to say. But Vladimir Putin says that Russia is very close to releasing a vaccine that will prevent against cancer. It did not say in the initial report what forms of cancer it's going to provide vaccination from. But the idea is you get this vaccination and cancer cells will not be able to form in your body.

Yeah. Listen, by all accounts, the medical industry withhold a lot of very useful drugs that they don't release to the market because the pharmaceutical companies make so much money, and that's what they want. Just for example, just recently, again, they're trying to push it down our throats that fats are bad for you, and eggs are bad for you. They cause cholesterol. Once again, I saw a report. The FDA did a report on the eggs. You got to avoid eggs again. It's like, no, eggs are great for you. Eggs have everything in. You can't believe everything you say. Now, when it comes to vaccines, I was wrong. I had this whole COVID stance. I was wrong. I don't give a fuck. I'm not a proud man. I'll say, Yeah, all right. I got that one wrong. I will say this, and this is nothing to do with COVID, the skepticism on this one. Let's take a guy that's potentially on the verge of World War III, and he's going to create a vaccine to cure cancer or stop cancer. I'm just saying on that one, I'd be a little bit hesitant about taking it.

There are so many end-of-the-world movies that start with this premise. This is how you make zombies and vampires and monster. This is how it happens. You're like, Oh, look, a cure for Cancer. And the next thing you know, you have your mailman eating your face when he shows up to your house. It's just how movies work.

Here's how the real world works, though. If this guy can come out with a cure for cancer, right? If he can literally cure cancer, he is going to look like a hero the world over. Not only that, he's going to cost the American pharmaceutical companies that make tons and tons of money treating cancer instead of curing cancer. He's It's going to cost them a ton of money, which is only a massive blow to the American financial system. So it's like that's a win, win, win for him if he is able to provide this vaccine. And it's like, why not trust that?

Well, to be honest, I mean, I'm no cancer expert. That's going I'm not going to shock everyone listening. But it's only a matter of time as medical science gets better and better. I mean, the stuff they can do now that they couldn't do 10 years ago, 20 years ago is ridiculous. And I'm all for it, and I would love to see that become a reality one day. And hopefully it does. And hopefully, who knows? Maybe this is it. Maybe this is one of the breakthroughs that they need. But to your point, Harrington, it would cost a pharmaceutical company so much money. I was bored the other day. And being English, you're not going to like this. But this is true, because I've lived in two countries for a long period of time, and we have the NHS, and most countries have a National Health Service. And granted, I will say this, the This service isn't as good as what I get here because I pay a shit ton of money every month. And granted, right now in the UK, particularly because of strikes and government funding and stuff like that, the service is getting more and more appalling almost by the week.

However, you also don't see people that get hit by cars or anything like that, or they get a sickness, illness, and they're having to sell their houses and all the rest of it. They still get the treatment that they need. And I started looking And then you're getting into all the different drugs, and there's charts you can find online. The cost to the American medicine purchaser for the American is about six times more expensive than the majority of the rest of the world. And it's because of the pharmaceutical companies. It's just insane. I mean, a quick look at it, you show these grass and America is up here. They're all down here. There's a couple of weird African countries that for some reason, probably Because to get the drugs in there, you got to get past the military coup or something like that. But generally, the States is about at least three times more expensive. It's wild.

Well, yeah, because they price it that high so that the pharmaceutical companies and the insurance company can argue over it and meet somewhere in the middle, which is typically why if you tell your doctor, Hey, I'm uninsured, they'll be like, Oh, cool, and just put you down for a generic that costs one-tenth of the on-label pill that your insurance company is going to pay out Pfizer for. It really is like a big circle between all these companies.

But it's crazy because my point is that this is the only country, out of most of them, where you have to pay privately or you have to pay your insurance. And it's way more expensive because it is a business, because it's crooked and it's full of bullshit. It really is. I mean, it's such a business. Why is medicine in the one country where every individual has to pay massive amounts of insurance, the most expensive? I mean, it doesn't take a scientist to work it out. A lot of people are getting very, very wealthy.

Not only that, but maybe we might be the only country in the world that has drug advertisements on TV.

No, that is absolutely correct.

It's illegal in Europe.

It's 100% illegal. And it's all you get on the TV out here when I watch TV. And they have the catchy little jingles. Catch your little jingles. You know what I mean? They're all singing away like, Oh, Tesla. You know what I mean?

Oh, oh, oh, Zemmour.

Oh, oh, oh, Tesla. Yeah, it's all Tesla.

Yeah, exactly. It's like, Oh, you don't want to exercise? Here, put this fucking injection in your stomach. It's so broken. But a tinfoil hat on, your point- Go ahead. Exactly. Maybe that's why America has this agenda of regime change in Russia, is because they're about to put out something that's going to finally ruin the economy entirely.

I I always say this, and you never know, maybe, Brian- I'm just making that up right now. Yeah, tinfoil hat time, of course. I haven't had one for a very long time, but cold sores. You guys call it for the therapies. We call it cold source in England, okay? Way more palatable. I agree. I get the occasional cold so now and again. I haven't had one for a while. In England, you just go down to the chemist, you go to boots or whatever it is, and you buy some Xavirax. It costs you £2.95 or whatever it is. It In America, you're going to go to the doctor, which, by the way, you're going to have a copay for. I've seen the doctor, it's a $60 payment on top of the insurance. Then you get the prescription, then you go down there. When I see the paperwork, the insurance company are being billed like $1,700 for a tiny little thing of this cold saw creep. Do you know what I mean? And when I saw that, I was like, Oh, my God, it's just insane. Anyway, the point what I'm saying is, but anytime I say anything like, Oh, socialism, communism.

It's not It's not communism. It's just that we don't all get our pants pulled down. Yeah, you got a great service, but there's issues.

It's actually more of like an oligarchy or closer to fascism because it's like government-mandated price hikes because of all these loops and holes that they got to run through. Then there's no control on the prices of things after that. They can just chart. This guy, the guy who's on LOS, whatever, last year, the guy who bought the AIDS drug. Martin Strelle. Martin Strelle. He's like, Yeah, fuck it. Yes, I raised the price of this 5,000% because I need to make money. It's just like, How are you allowed to do that?

Yeah, and we're going to get back into some MMA stuff and some fun stuff in a minute. I saw Umbruvica, I think the drug was. I saw this video. And in the States, it costs a person. It's if you have leukemia, and we're going to get back on to something in a minute. But I saw this, and that's what caused me to go down this deep dive. It costs somebody that, sadly, has leukemia, 190,000 a year. And the pharmaceutical company is making net profits of 20 odd billion a year off this one drug. And she was getting questioned in Congress, and she didn't have the answers to any questions whatsoever. So I googled it. And of course, you can't trust everything you say on Google. But it's a fraction of the cost, a fraction of the cost in most of other countries. And this is a drug designed to help people with a life-threatening disease like leukemia. And these are making so much money and making it so expensive. And it's just horrible. It's actually evil, if you ask me. I mean, listen, you're going to make money. I get that, but come on.

Like that drug you're just talking about, $18,000 for what I can imagine is a month's supply.

It's a month, yeah, per month. Eighteen grand. Eighteen grand a month. And if you have insurance, you're still going to pay 20... For non-American listeners, if you have insurance, you're still going to pay 20 % of that. I do. On my policy, you still have to pay 20%. If you have insurance, you're still going to pay 20%. If I call an ambulance, that's $5,000. If we have to go to a hospital, it's $10,000 a night in a hospital.

You're responsible for 20, okay?

If Rebecca gets pregnant, she's not covered. She better not get pregnant, okay?

Especially since then, you get snipped.

I didn't get snipped, no. I decided- Good for you. If we do have some mass extinction, we need some prime DNA, guys. I'm doing service to humanity by keeping the bloodline going. Anyway, enough of that shit. What What else have we got in terms of... We apologize, guys. We went down a rabbit hole there. Any big news regarding MMA?

Well, this, apparently, is going to be the last show that we'll do when we don't know what the UFC 300 main event is because Dana White says that he is going to announce it at the Postfight Press conference at UFC 298.

What can I just say on behalf of everybody watching this show, following Mixed Martial Arts, fans of the UFC, thank God, because the discussion over this, I can't take it anymore. I really can't. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited for all UFC events, but it's like every episode of this bloody podcast, you're bringing up UFC 300 main event. I click on to Twitter. It's all people are talking about. But crying out loud, the ticket's gone on sale in a few days, so they got to announce something. That's it. We're not doing it again. But who's your pick? Real quick.

Well, I know one guy who my pick definitely isn't. Who? Hamza Chamaev, who says that he is not willing to fight during Ramadan anymore. So because that's happening in April, he's going to bow out. That being said, I'm going to say Izzy versus Drekis.

Izzy versus Drekis. That's probably my front runner as well. All right, fellows, are you sick of wasting money on testosterone boosters that just don't work? Well, I don't blame you. That is why our sponsor today, Nugenics Total T, lets you try before you buy. You can get a complementary sample when you text 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, and then to the key word believe. As you're getting older, the testosterone is dipping, the energy goes, the results from the workout, the libido. The very thing that makes you a man is starting to fade away every single year, it's getting lower and lower. So give it a boost and do it without turning your backside into a dartboard, okay? You haven't got to go down the doctor. You haven't going to get on testosterone replacement therapy. No, you're going to get on the Nugenics total tea, which contains boosting key ingredients like testFM, which has been shown in clinical studies to boost free testosterone levels in men. This is an unprecedented formula with science-backed key ingredients to safely maximize your free and total testosterone levels. It helps you increase muscle mass and skyrocket your performance as you age.

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So if you got a question, you send it in to bympod@gmail. Com. Believers, let me just say real quick, the pace of the questions, the quality of the questions, it's dropped off, it's fallen off, and you need to get your shit together. You want a question, you want it answered, you send it into bympod@gmail. Com.

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Okay, so first question we have here today is from Mr. Lee Bosworth.

What's up, Lee?

Just a quick couple of questions.

I'm sending this one from the Love Pit because I'm a bit under the weather. But first of all, do you think Jamal Hill is the most underrated champion of all time?

Because that man is unbelievable in his performance against Glovo.

That was probably one of the best I've ever seen on the UFC. The second question is, do you think jiu-jitsu has become more or less effective in the UFC due to take down defense and people be on to do slam knockouts and all this?

Just like the key, how you take and what you like to say on that topic. But Aaron, it doesn't matter what you say. Go, yourself.

How are you, man? Thanks, Lee. Really appreciate the question. Shout out is probably in Jordi, is probably in Newcastle. I'm sounding like a bloody marab. Jamal Hill, Is he underrated? Sorry, very tired. Underrated? I don't think so. He was the champ. He relinquished the belt, tore his calf. What do you think? I don't think so. I mean, look at that knockout he had of Johnny Walker. Unbelievable. Look at what Johnny Walker is doing. Other than Paul Craig catching him in that submission, I think he's undefeated, right? No, I don't think he is. I'm looking forward to him coming back. I think he's got a tough time when he comes back. Him, Alex Pereira, Magamed Ancalyev, both very, very tough matchups. If he can get through either one of them or if he can get through both of them, he might roll that heavyweight for quite some time.

It's fair. I see more people online talking about how Magamed would beat him up, or he's got no chance against Alex Pereira than I've seen with any champion in a very long time. So I will say probably a little bit. I would agree that he's a little bit underrated just because I don't think people, for whatever reason, it's just not solidified with Jamal as a champion despite the win over Glover, a former champion himself.

Yeah. And then the second part of the question is, is jiu-jitsu underutilized these days in modern mixed martial arts? And I think it leads actually onto a point there, because I think to a certain degree it is. Obviously, you got guys like an Islam, or you got guys like Charles Oliver, Damian Myers in the past, Jake Shields, et cetera, et cetera. But as this newer generations continue and as more time passes, I think it's becoming less effective. Not because it's not effective as an art, it's Because you're getting less and less specialists because everybody trains mixed martial arts. They don't necessarily start off as doing jiu-jitsu. They're not experts in one field. The sports get bigger. They start training with an eye to doing mixed martial arts. And even when I was training back in the day, I used to get frustrated sometimes because you spar or you do jiu-jitsu, even when I was doing jiu-jitsu, because we did mixed martial arts as well, our jiu-jitsu was for mixed martial arts. They were just where everyone would work back to the feet. And when you got back to your feet, then you restarted from an even position again.

You know what I mean? And I used to do that as well because I was practicing my get-ups. But sometimes I'd be like, Can you just not do that? Can we just actually try and do some jiu-jitsu? Can we try and sweep? Can we try and submit? As opposed to just stalemating and negating the offense in terms of grappling and finishing ability and getting back to your feet. Of course, for strikers, we want to get back to our feet. But by doing that, we're not sharpening the tools. And I think generally, yes, listen, arm bars, rear necky, chokes, things like that. Of course, they still work and they still have a place. And of course, you got to learn how to defend them. But I think the people that are having the skill of practicing Missing them and finishing with them is becoming less and less. And I would actually be very interested, and maybe I'm wrong, to see the percentage. Brian, see, if you look this up, the percentage of submission finishes in 2023 compared to 2013 or 2005. I bet it is vastly different. Of course, the sport isn't as much of a secret as it was in 1993.

So people are all aware of this. We've seen the sport, we've seen the art, we know how good it is and how effective it is, and we know how to defend it against them. But I do think that, yeah, to answer his question, anyone with a shred of decency as a fighter knows how to defend all the submissions. Granted, with punches, with elbows, you soften them up before you go for the submission. But yeah, I do think it's probably a bit more underutilized as an art these days.

Well, I mean, just by definition, it has to be, right? Because going back to like UFC one, UFC two, if you knew any jiu-jitsu, you were going to dominate the field of competition. So there was a time where being a jiu-jitsu specialist meant you were a champion in weighting. Now we see the jiu-jitsu specialist, the Cron Grace, he's in the world, Claudio Pueilas, I think, was the last one where he just kept butt-scooting, trying to get somebody to the ground. The Ryan Halls of the world haven't really worked out at the highest level. I think it's, sure, the specialists aren't as prevalent. But I do think the guys who have that strong jiu-jitsu game in their tool belt, the Charles Oliver and the Gilbert Burns of the world, show that it is still a very, very... You can use it at a championship level. You just got to have the hand of it.

Listen, without question, it's an absolute essential fundamental. It's a fundamental in the array of skills that a mixed martial artist should have. But I'm just saying, I just think as the sport is becoming more about nullifying, defending, getting back to your feet, defending takedowns, probably, wrestling isn't quite as effective these days either because people are learning how to stop takedowns. And certainly when you mix in the cage grappling, the cage offense, I mean, everything's different. And it was actually Henry Sehudo that said this. Alderman Sterling, routinely, pretty much throughout that fight, when he fought, Henry Sehudo was able to take Sehudo down. Sehudo is a better wrestler, but against the fence, it changes everything. It's a completely different game. And I even said to Henry, I've trained with some wrest that are really, really good wrest. I was never a wrestler, per se. I learned a bit of wrestling. But even against the fence, I could take people down. Out in the open, I'd struggle. But against the fence, It's making easy if you know how to do it. So everything's changing or has changed. But, yeah, Lee, thank you for your question. How are you, man?

How are you, man? Thanks, Pet. Brian, we got another question, Pet.

Yeah, sorry. I was just trying to do some quick maths.

No, do we have the start?

I'm looking for how many submission wins happened in 2005, but I have 102 submissions in 2023, 102 submissions in 520 fights. In 2005, there was only 80 fights.

Yeah, exactly.

I got to find out the number of submissions in that year. How many submissions in 2015? I will figure that out as I play this question from Matthias. It's going to arrive.

Thank you.

What up, Michael? What up, Anthony? Big fan of the show, Matthias here from Amsterdam. I got a I have a question for you guys about the stuff that goes on behind the scenes because, of course, we as fans see everything that happens in front of the camera, whether it's the interview, it's the fight, it's the post-fight show, whatever. But I was wondering if you maybe could lift the curtains a little bit on what goes on backstage, dressing room stories, something funny, something awkward, stuff that goes on behind the scenes. I don't know, anything. I know there's a code in the dressing room, so maybe you can't name any names. That's all good. I just hope you have a make us laugh or whatever. Big fan of the show, like I said, big shout out to you guys, Michael, Anthony, Harrington, not going to lie. Whenever you appear on camera during interviews or with Michael, your faces, the faces you make You're cringes, but for the rest, you're a pretty stand-up guy, so shout out to you as well. But for the rest, you're a pretty stand-up guy. So shout out to you. If you end up putting my question through, shout out to you as well.

All right, later guys.

Oh, God. Mateus, thank you.. No, smoking a pancake. Thank you very much, Mateus, for the question. Backstage. I mean, it's a good laugh. It's a good laugh. Can't pull back the curtain too far. Let me see. I'm trying to think of any stories. I can't think of any off the top of my head. You've put me right on the spot. But there's always good energy. You get there backstage, let's say the apex. You're going to get your makeup done. Well, first of all, you get there early and We're all having our food and the UFC are great at providing food. I always order DoorDash, though. I get my steak and eggs from the same place every time. And everyone's buzzing about. Everyone's walking around. You're walking. Richard is there, Michael Quies, Anthony is there. Karen Bryant is getting the makeup done. The producers are running past. There's a lot of energy because everyone's rushing. But in terms of stories, feeling about the curtain, I have nothing right now that I can offer. I'm a failure. I really am. But Harrington, I know the faces he's talking about. No, you're great. You're great. You're great.

You are. You're fantastic. You're fantastic. And I'm so appreciative of you. But we always want to learn. You don't do it as much anymore.

You don't. Really? Because I actively try to do it. The goal is to amount.

No, because I'm far from perfect. You know what I mean?

Far.

Do you know what I mean? And I have no doubt lots of criticisms as well. So I'm not piggybacking it, giving you shit. I'm like, Oh, yeah, I know what my day is. You don't have to look that shocked. Yeah, exactly. We will be back on Monday. Harrington will be here. Thank you, Harrington.

Thanks for having me. Honor and privilege as always, Mr. Bisping.

Everyone's like, Oh, picking on Harrington. I'm not picking on him. That was Mateus.

That's fair. Just so we clear this up, there was 473 fights in 2015 and 89 submissions.

So what was the percentage in?

It's not too far apart. If we had 520 fights in 2023 with 102 submissions.

Oh, so it's actually trending the other way, more submissions?

Yes, sir.

Yeah? Yeah. Interesting. All right. Well, I stand corrected, see. I don't know everything.

But I mean, those could be wrestling submissions, too. Who knows?

Yeah, exactly. Thank you, Harrington. Guys, we will be back on Monday. Please subscribe and ring the bell if you haven't done so already. Enjoy your weekends, and we're going to have a big roundup of fights. And I'm dropping some interviews that I did yesterday on the channel. So be coming back on the Daily for the content. Goodbye. Take care.